Chapter 7: Forks
"My name is Chuck Norris and I am researching the circumstances surrounding the mysterious disappearance of an individual known as Isabella Marie Swan, daughter of the former chief of police. Police records informed me that you were the first witness to the scene of not one but two horrible tragedies. I am here to infer from your illustrious opinion what happened to this young woman," Norris said. He attempted to enunciate his words to the utmost of his ability in order to prevent any additional embarrassing scenes caused by locals misunderstanding him due to their inflexible interpretations of his accent.
Sam Uley sat on his living room couch, bulging biceps crossed over his bare chest, with a scowl growing deeper and deeper in his face as he listened. Emily entered the room, baby on her hip, and offered them each a Coke and some fresh muffins.
"Who are you and why are you interested in this?" he asked suspicious of the foreign man. His strange visitor sat staunchly upright, wearing a spotless black suit, orange tie, and immaculately shined shoes.
"I just said I'm…"
"Yeah. Yeah. Chuck Norris. Right. And I'm Arnold Schwarzenegger."
"I thought you were Sam Uley."
Sam rolled his eyes. Emily pursed her lips and stared at Sam until he looked up at the ceiling and nodded silently in her direction.
"As I was saying, I am the Director of Technology and Innovation for the government of the Kingdom of Wakanda in East-Central Africa. I have been sent here by my sovereign to research the background of said Isabella Swan in order to manage her current status of habitation within our populace," Norris said, pushing his glasses further up his nose and taking a sip of the Coke. His statement had the intended impact. Sam suddenly sat straight up and stared at the much shorter, more clothed man.
"What do you mean her current status of habitation…do you mean she is alive?"
"Isabella Swan was discovered injured and unaccompanied on our borders and has been residing in Wakanda ever since. However, she has very little memory of her previous life. Her appearance has, how shall I put this? Her appearance has placed our kingdom in a bit of a delicate situation politically due to her injuries and our lack of information about her.
"My first question, sir, is how you came upon the house where the crime took place?"
Sam Uley's mouth dropped slightly ajar and his face showed signs of an internal debate over what information to disclose.
"Crime? It was a fire caused by an electrical failure."
"Hmmm. Bella said she saw three dead bodies, no fire, and an excessive amount of blood. However, she also mentioned something about an overgrown canine and so I am not sure how reliable her interpretation of events is."
"We…uh…she…uh…"
"Jacob and William Black, they were friends of the Swans?"
"Yes. They lived on the rez near here. Billy and Charlie'd been friends since as long as I've been alive, at least."
"The school administrator mentioned Bella experienced a calamitous love affair shortly before going into a period of emotional instability. Can you expend any elucidation on those events?"
"Uh, I guess? Bella dated a guy named Edward Cullen who was bad news. Billy warned her that he was no good but she wouldn't listen. When the family moved away, she was the only one sad about it, but she was pretty messed up for a while. She was spending a heck of a lot of time with Jacob afterwards. He was a few years younger than her and had a bit of a crush on her.
"Anyhow, Bella went out that night to pick up pizza and some groceries for the guys. She came home and found them dead and then flipped out. I came and found her and tried to get her to come back to the rez for her own good but she refused. Then she disappeared. The next day, we saw her car over the cliff and called it in," Sam said, meeting Norris' eyes and instilling his words with an extra ounce of authority as if to try to increase their acceptance.
"And the fire?"
"Umm, that's what killed the men."
"You story is ripe with inconsistencies."
Sam glared and Norris ruffled through some papers he produced from his briefcase. A tense silence fell over the room as if they were two boxers in the ring determining who would throw the next punch.
"Do you know of any individuals who sought Isabella's demise?"
"Her what?"
"Her demise-her death."
"No. Why?"
"Because Isabella is under the impression that someone was after her and that is why she traversed the globe for the indeterminate period of time she was assumed dead. Now, I have accessed her electronic mail communications during the time frame mentioned and she communicated quite a few times with an individual she called Leah. Do you happen to know who this Leah is or why she provided Isabella Swan with monetary and logistical assistance?"
"How is Bella?" Emily said, suddenly entering the room again as if she had been listening from the other side of the door and felt the need to redirect the conversation.
"Ah. She is, well, how do I expostulate her current condition? I would say she has been changed by her previous contretemps and is seeking to renegotiate her identity and inner state of well-being given her new life circumstances."
"I have no idea what you just said. Are you even speaking English?" Sam grumbled.
"Ah, yes. What I mean to say is that Isabella is fine," Norris replied.
"Ok."
"What do you mean changed?" Emily interjected.
"Just that. Her recent encounters with an adversary previous to her discovery has permanently altered her."
"Altered in what way?"
Norris stared at Emily and Sam for a moment as he carefully calibrated his next statement. He could not tell how much the Uleys knew about the mazimwi or the real circumstances affecting Bella. He slowly enunciated all the adjectives in his statement for emphasis.
"I would say she is a much colder, stronger, and more durable individual than you last met. She also has developed quite the thirst for life. Some would even describe her as lustrous and mesmerizing."
"Holy shi…" Sam shouted but stopped when Emily slapped him and pointed at the dark-haired baby in her arms sucking on a pacifier.
"Sorry…are you saying what I think you are saying?"
"It depends. What do you think I am saying?"
"Is she…no. She can't. That leech would not have let her live to be changed…unless it was another…how did she…," Sam babbled, words pouring out of his mouth like ice out of an ice machine. "Let me get this straight, do you mean that Bella is, are you saying that Bella is what we would call a Cold One?"
"Hmmm…Before I answer, please answer a question of my own. What do you know of Cold Ones and have there been previous such individuals in the immediate vicinity?"
Sam exhaled deeply, sank into the couch as if it were giving him a warm hug, and twiddled his fingers on his kneecaps.
"It's against our treaty to answer those questions."
"Treaty?"
"Yes. Our ancestors made a treaty long before my time. We promised to keep their secrets and they promised to keep ours."
"I see. Perhaps I can expound upon my current hypothesis and you can tell me if my conclusions are well-founded."
"Ok."
"Bella Swan became romantically entwined with what our people call a zimwi, what your people would call a Cold One, or what the wazungu would call a vampire. During their relationship, one of their kind attacked Bella in Phoenix. She survived and shortly thereafter, her lover fled, leaving her desolate. Your people, as you seem to know about the Cold Ones and have a treaty in place with them, knew their identity. Your people also acted as guardians and extended kin for Bella during her hardships.
"One of these Cold Ones attacked Bella's home, killed her father and the Blacks, and you assisted her in her escape and her cover story. Her escapade around the world was aided by the general belief in her death. Her travels were, at least in partiality, financed and organized by some of your kin. You lost contact with the girl in January of this year and assumed her dead."
"Yah. That pretty much sums it up," Sam said with a sigh.
"Sam, he knows enough. Tell him," Emily said with a pointed stare.
"I suppose I can fill in the details. My people have a, uh, special gift that helps protect us against their kind. When the Cullens, that's the family that lived here, first came, they signed a treaty with our forefathers because they claimed they only hunted animals and not humans. Our ancestors agreed, but they were not allowed on our land and we would kill them if they ever killed a human. All others we come across, we kill on sight, no questions asked.
"Anyhow, the Cullens like it here cause its wet and dark and so they try to live with humans as much as they can. The leader of the coven is a doctor and the rest tend to go to school, get jobs, and pretend they aren't blood-sucking leeches.
"They'd been here a few years then one day the Cullens skipped town with no explanations to anyone. Charlie Swan gave out a call that Bella was missing. I was out on patrol in the woods and I found Bella abandoned in the middle of the forest. She was cold and wet through and totally incoherent, mumbling how 'he's gone,' and all that. Apparently the leech had taken her into the forest, broken up with her, and left her completely alone.
"I carried her back home. She was never the same. That parasite thoroughly sucked the life out of her. She grew totally emaciated, disinterested in life, withdrew from everyone and everything. Charlie told Billy she kept waking up screaming in night terrors and shouting Edward's name, asking him to come back. He was so upset he almost hospitalized her.
"She started hanging out with Jacob and that was a good thing. She at least started eating a bit and laughing sometimes, but even then, any mention of the Cullens made her look like someone had punched her in the gut.
"Well, one night, there was a big game on and, like I said, Bella went out to grab some food. When she came back, she found that a vamp had been there first. It was bad. Blood everywhere. The leech drank from two of them but bled the third one out and used it to paint the room. Then she tore them limb from limb as a special message to Bella. The vamp was hiding out in the woods waiting to get Bella next.
"To make it worse, the vamp overheard Bella making her pizza order before she left. The vamp called the pizza shop after her, changing her order, so when Bella went to pick up the pizza, Bella thought the guy just misunderstood her order and tried to see if she had the wrong pizza. The guy insisted it was hers. The words "for my beloved James" were written on top of the box. Apparently, the vamp had it out for her because the Cullens killed her mate named James back in Phoenix. Bella freaked out and came home as quickly as she could. That's when she found the mess.
"Paul, my pack mate, was on patrol and came across the trail of the vamp and contacted Embry and I immediately. We weren't there in time to save Charlie, Billy, and Jacob, but we did manage to save Bella. We found the red-haired vamp watching Bella from a tree. She turned and fled like a bat outta hell and we couldn't catch her.
"Well, we knew she'd be back for Bella so decided the best we could do was cover up the scene so there were less questions. We tried to convince Bella to come back to the rez where we could look after her, but she refused. Said it would put the rest of our people in danger cause she was the target and as long as she was alive, people around her wouldn't be safe. Said she wanted to strike out on her own and try to dodge the vamp by constantly running.
"Well, there's no changing Bella's mind once she's made it, so we organized her fake death as a cover and to throw the leech off her trail for as long as we could. Embry carried her to the airport so the vamp couldn't track her scent as easily. After Paul and I took care of the house and the bodies, we tried to chase down the leech. We found her tracking Bella again and we attacked. We would have got her that time but there was another one that came outta nowhere and attacked us. We got the second one down, but not before the red-haired one got away. We chased her through California till we finally lost the trail.
"In the meantime, Embry got Bella to the airport and on a plane to New York to his cousin's place. Then Leah organized a fake passport to be sent to her there. She also took care of all the financial details of Charlie's estate. She made a trust fund that she used to send Bella money and plane tickets whenever she emailed. Bella bounced from country to country, never feeling safe in one place.
"The last we heard, Bella was in South Africa and about to leave for Swaziland. Then she vanished," Sam said, pausing to finish gulping his Coke.
"A few days after we faked Bella's death, three of the Cullens returned to look into the situation. I met with Dr. Fangs when they came. Apparently one of their coven has a gift that gives her the ability to see the future or some such nonsense. This vamp, despite her so-called gift, hadn't seen the red-head's decision to kill the Swans and Blacks. But they saw the news reports. She hadn't seen anything about Bella's escape and we didn't know if we could trust them or not, so we told them the news reports were true and Bella was dead. We didn't want the red-head to find out through them that she was still alive.
"Dr. Fangs acted like he was all broken-hearted about it and so regretful, yada, yada, yada. We haven't seen them since. We haven't had any other vamp activity here since then as well."
"I thank you for your full account of her history, Mr. Uley," Norris said, having taken detailed records throughout the narrative. "Bella Swan seems have memories of this, as you call, red-head. I would assume the vampire caught up with her somewhere in Africa and attacked her. We cannot tell where it occurred. We also do not know why the vampire did not kill her. All we know is Bella appeared at our borders in the midst of her transformation and we have no way to tell how she arrived there. She completed her transformation and she has dwelt within our borders ever since."
"You knew what she was becoming and you let her live?" Sam asked, incredulous.
"Yes."
"Why didn't you kill her immediately?"
"I am not privy to the decision-making process of my sovereign. Our Prince was part of the initial inspection and stayed with her during her transformation and subsequent waking. Thus far, she has caused harm to no human and has existed solely on the local mammalian population. She has not behaved in a vicious or threatening manner but has lived quietly and peacefully in accordance to our laws. Thus, we have allowed to temporarily remain. We have kept careful track of her movements and behaviors in order to prevent possible incidences but thus far it has been entirely unnecessary."
"But that's, I mean, from what I've heard from our myths and legends, that doesn't sound normal. I thought they wake up as crazy, blood-thirsty monsters."
"According to all of our contacts and research, her behavior is unprecedented. We cannot account for it, nor can she. She simply states that she 'doesn't want to hurt anyone'."
"That sounds like our Bella. Well, your people are braver than ours. We would have killed her immediately, regardless of our affection for her and her family."
Norris did not respond, but began to pack up his belongings.
"Well, thank you for looking after her," Sam said. "We, well, tell her we are really sorry for what happened and that we've been looking for the vamp but just never got any leads. I mean, Paul went all the way to Florida and back to check on her mom and keep watch over her for a few months. We did all we could.
"You can let her know that if she decides to come back to Forks, we can make a special exception and include her in on the Cullens' treaty and not kill her if she's still got gold eyes. You know, in honor of Charlie and all."
"Ummm, I do not know what to say to that. I will inform her of your tidings. Now, I thank you for your time and your hospitality," Norris said and bid them farewell.